Volpe's deliberate approach leading to better postseason at-bats

NEW YORK -- This is all new to Anthony Volpe, the young Yankees shortstop in his first postseason, but he’s not showing it.

Volpe went 3-for-12 (.250) with three singles against the Royals in the four games of the American League Division Series -- hardly anything to wow you. But the numbers tell the story of a much stronger series and the potential for bigger things to come in the AL Championship Series, which begins Monday night at Yankee Stadium against the Guardians.

Beyond Volpe’s four walks to just one strikeout, which were the result of a precise and intentional plate approach, he was driving the baseball ... just to all the wrong places. The Yankees aren’t about to raise a banner to celebrate hard-hit outs, but there’s a sense around the club that Volpe is playing some of his best baseball at the right time.

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• Volpe recorded a 98.9 mph average exit velocity and a 72.7% hard-hit rate in the ALDS (eight of his 11 batted balls were 95 mph or harder off the bat). Those numbers show encouraging jumps from his regular-season average exit velocity (87.7 mph) and hard-hit rate (just 35.4%).

• Volpe’s fifth-inning single in Game 3 of the ALDS had an exit velocity of 108.6 mph, just 0.1 mph shy of his season high.

Just as important, the 23-year-old understands that he’s onto something, even if the numbers haven’t popped just yet.

“I want to hit the ball hard. I want to barrel the ball up,” Volpe said. “So when that's happening, I feel like I'm in a good spot. But that's baseball. You obviously want them to fall, especially this time of year. But I feel like if I stick with my process, stick with my plan -- especially against those pitchers and the [pitches] this time of year -- I feel like with the larger sample size, it will all work out.”

Much of Volpe’s contact against the Royals in the ALDS was to the opposite field, but the Yankees don’t want him to overcorrect and try to pull the ball. He’s doing exactly what they want, but the balls just need to fall.

“I thought in these games and the week of preparation leading up, he's looked as good as he has offensively at any time all year,” said Yankees manager Aaron Boone. “So I will sign up for what he's got going on right now.”

The first key: Feeling fresh
Both Volpe and Boone are quick to mention the value of their first-round bye, which allowed the Yankees’ hitters to do some more focused work while they had five days off ahead of the ALDS. Without games looming each night, they could step back a few inches and make better, more specific use of their time.

“You got to get in the cage. We're obviously here [in New York], and we have the Trajekt machine, so we've been getting eyes on all the pitchers, stuff like that,” Volpe explained. “I think I’m just seeing the ball well and being able to swing at good pitches and lay off the tight ones.”

There’s one number that backs up the value of Volpe’s breather: his swing speed. Volpe’s average bat speed in the ALDS was 72.6 mph -- a noticeable jump from his average bat speed in the regular season (69.3 mph).

The second key: An intentional approach
The Royals wanted Volpe to chase pitches in the ALDS. He refused to.

Of the 40 pitches Volpe saw out of the zone against the Royals, he swung just three times. That 7.5% chase rate is well below his 2024 average of 29.3%. He was even swinging less at pitches that were in the strike zone, a conscious choice to be more selective.

Dealing with any sample size this small, though, there needs to be a “why” or “how” to back it all up. In Volpe’s case, let’s get a bit more specific and look at the types of pitches he was targeting.

Volpe didn’t produce much power against breaking balls and offspeed pitches during the season, so he’s tried to cut those out entirely. In the ALDS, he swung at just 18.2% of breaking balls and offspeed pitches -- down from 45.6% in the regular season. This helps explain why he’s hitting the ball harder, as Volpe has always done a much better job of driving heaters.

Now, it’s time for all of these decimal points and percentages to become reality for Volpe, who was an 8-year-old fan in a Yankees jersey the last time this club reached the World Series.